Intellectual Property

Any foreground intellectual property (IP) arising out of the competition will solely belong to the participant sharing the entry for the competition. Any background IP from the student's entry also remains the sole property of the participant. DIP does not claim or retain any IP rights to the student's design.​

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DIP expects students to conduct appropriate research into potentially competitive IP through the suggested below means of research. Any infringement of external IP will be the burden of the student, not of DIP. To conduct research we suggest:

• Online search through reports, websites, shopping, images, etc.

• AI search engine such as Chat GPT

• Patent research through Patently

• Research ACID Anti Copying and Design Rights

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Per patent law, as soon as an inventor publishes their work, or displays it publicly, the work now registers as 'prior art' and cannot be patented. Publicly can be shared via social media, in publications, or simply in a coffee shop with people around. DIP keeps student entries completely confidential until the announcement of winners, therefore initially submitting your entry to DIP and presenting it in front of the judges in a closed meeting does not count as public disclosure.

DIP keeps your invention details completely confidential. If your entry does not make it to finals, it will never be published. If you make it to the finalists list, your invention will be disclosed during and after the winner's announcement ceremony. If you would like to patent your innovation, you must do so before then.